diff --git a/tests/msodde_doc/__init__.py b/tests/msodde_doc/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/msodde_doc/__init__.py
diff --git a/tests/msodde_doc/test_basic.py b/tests/msodde_doc/test_basic.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9156f85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/msodde_doc/test_basic.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+""" Test some basic behaviour of msodde.py
+
+Ensure that
+- doc and docx are read without error
+- garbage returns error return status
+- dde-links are found where appropriate
+"""
+
+import unittest
+from oletools import msodde
+import shlex
+from os.path import join, dirname, normpath
+
+BASE_DIR = normpath(join(dirname(__file__), '..', 'test-data'))
+
+
+class TestReturnCode(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_valid_doc(self):
+        """ check that a valid doc file leads to 0 exit status """
+        print(join(BASE_DIR, 'msodde-doc/test_document.doc'))
+        self.do_test_validity(join(BASE_DIR, 'msodde-doc/test_document.doc'))
+
+    def test_valid_docx(self):
+        """ check that a valid docx file leads to 0 exit status """
+        self.do_test_validity(join(BASE_DIR, 'msodde-doc/test_document.docx'))
+
+    def test_invalid_none(self):
+        """ check that no file argument leads to non-zero exit status """
+        self.do_test_validity('', True)
+
+    def test_invalid_empty(self):
+        """ check that empty file argument leads to non-zero exit status """
+        self.do_test_validity(join(BASE_DIR, 'basic/empty'), True)
+
+    def test_invalid_text(self):
+        """ check that text file argument leads to non-zero exit status """
+        self.do_test_validity(join(BASE_DIR, 'basic/text'), True)
+
+    def do_test_validity(self, args, expect_error=False):
+        """ helper for test_valid_doc[x] """
+        args = shlex.split(args)
+        return_code = -1
+        have_exception = False
+        try:
+            return_code = msodde.main(args)
+        except Exception:
+            have_exception = True
+        except SystemExit as se:     # sys.exit() was called
+            return_code = se.code
+            if se.code is None:
+                return_code = 0
+
+        self.assertEqual(expect_error, have_exception or (return_code != 0))
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/tests/test-data/basic/empty b/tests/test-data/basic/empty
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-data/basic/empty
diff --git a/tests/test-data/basic/text b/tests/test-data/basic/text
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7f8d9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-data/basic/text
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+bla
diff --git a/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/dde-test.doc b/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/dde-test.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da5562c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/dde-test.doc
diff --git a/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/test_document.doc b/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/test_document.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c1768f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/test_document.doc
diff --git a/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/test_document.docx b/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/test_document.docx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dd2265
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-data/msodde-doc/test_document.docx